My Swing (Xcho87)

[Xcho87]

I've been Playing Golf for: 8 Months

My current handicap index or average score is: 112

My typical ball flight is: Draw

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice/Hook

Hi everyone my name is Chris. I have been golfing since last summer and have played two 18-hole courses so far. I have been told that I have a pretty fast SS but have not measured it. I can normally hit a driver 250 yards of carry if I can get it to go straight. My typical driver miss is a slice or hook lately. My irons are either a nice little draw shot or most of the time a deadly hook. I have been working hard since the start of the month and am determined to break 90 by the end of the year. My putting and chipping is much better then my full swing and gets me out of trouble most of the time. It's getting to the green that is my problem. I am most comfortable with my 56 and 60 degree wedges. Any help or advice will be much appreciated. I am a fan of S&T; and the 5SK's, which have helped me with my progress.

---

Videos:

This turned out to be a pulled shot. I drove this ball about 240 yards. My driver is all over the place. I mostly hit either a nasty hook or slice with it. I've been working on moving my weight forward but my back foot still seems to be down during impact and my arm is chicken winging it.

This is with my pitching wedge. I can usually hit it from 120 to 145 yards. I hooked this shot. I noticed that my head moved a lot but can't seem to figure out if thats the main reason for my hook. I know I probably have many other issues.

Thank you in advance for your time.

[Jspangler]

Videos are private it looked like you had an awful lot of shaft lean with the PW from the picture though. With your hands that far forward I'm willing to bet you clubface is closed leading to some hooks/pulls

[Xcho87]

Sorry about the privacy setting. I can't seem to edit my post but here are the working videos.

[Jspangler]

I can't tell much from the driver other than it looked quick, but your PW should be an easy fix. Start by narrowing stance, you don't need to be as wide with a pw as you do with a driver. Next thing is ball placement, now most people will say the ball moves back in your stance as you go down threw your clubs but I know Sean Foley teaches to just narrow your stance threw the clubs and keep the ball in the same spot, so that's preference. Next you don't want your hands that far ahead of you, that is shutting your clubface leading to those hooks. Hope it helps

[Xcho87]

Much appreciated. Will be working on the hands and slowing things down.

[Hurricane]

On the driver, one thing I would say is try to stand a tad closer to the ball - seems like you are over reaching just a little.  Also, try lowering the butt of the driver to point at your belt buckle...it seems to point at your mid section. I also noticed your right leg straightening out during your back swing...perhaps this is a S&T move?  A great training tool to improve plane is the Gold Flex trainer...I have only used it a few weeks but my drives have improved greatly.

There is quite a bit of shaft lean on your PW shot...something else to experiment with.  Nice swing and follow thru though.

[Mordan]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

On the driver, one thing I would say is try to stand a tad closer to the ball - seems like you are over reaching just a little.  Also, try lowering the butt of the driver to point at your belt buckle...it seems to point at your mid section. I also noticed your right leg straightening out during your back swing...perhaps this is a S&T move?  A great training tool to improve plane is the Gold Flex trainer...I have only used it a few weeks but my drives have improved greatly.

There is quite a bit of shaft lean on your PW shot...something else to experiment with.  Nice swing and follow thru though.

It's a move performed by the majority of good golfers. See here

http://thesandtrap.com/t/55080/myth-of-maintaining-address-flexion-in-the-rear-knee

[Hurricane]

Ok.  The video shows a marginal decrease in flexion by Milkeson.  Take a look at your swing around the 8 or 9 second point, the decrease in your flexion was very noticeable as it almost looks like your leg is locked.

The book Swing Like A Pro studied the swings of more than 100 PGA and LPGA players.  They maintain that the right knee flexion should be the same at address to control vertical movement.  I just flipped through my S&T book and see that they recommend the opposite, ie. straightening the right knee on the back swing.  So I guess it really boils down to what works best for you.   I tried S&T and it wasn't for me.

[Mordan]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

Ok.  The video shows a marginal decrease in flexion by Milkeson.  Take a look at your swing around the 8 or 9 second point, the decrease in your flexion was very noticeable as it almost looks like your leg is locked.

The book Swing Like A Pro studied the swings of more than 100 PGA and LPGA players.  They maintain that the right knee flexion should be the same at address to control vertical movement.  I just flipped through my S&T book and see that they recommend the opposite, ie. straightening the right knee on the back swing.  So I guess it really boils down to what works best for you.   I tried S&T and it wasn't for me.

Are you referring to my swing or Xcho87? This isn't the place for it , there's 6 pages of debate over on that other thread if you want to pick up the point.

But I just wanted to make sure that Xcho87 wouldn't make the mistake of trying to keep that same address flex at the top of his backswing because it will most likely just introduce new problems. However he shouldn't be locking his right knee, but that's something totally different to maintaining address flexion.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by Mordan

Are you referring to my swing or Xcho87? This isn't the place for it, there's 6 pages of debate over on that other thread if you want to pick up the point.

But I just wanted to make sure that Xcho87 wouldn't make the mistake of trying to keep that same address flex at the top of his backswing because it will most likely just introduce new problems. However he shouldn't be locking his right knee, but that's something totally different to maintaining address flexion.

My error, i thought it was Xcho87 responding.  I'm not interested in debating anything...just wanted to point out a few things that he can try.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

The book Swing Like A Pro studied the swings of more than 100 PGA and LPGA players.  They maintain that the right knee flexion should be the same at address to control vertical movement.

Virtually none of the top PGA Tour players do that. That's not an opinion. Just look. Click through that thread listed above.

Originally Posted by Hurricane

My error, i thought it was Xcho87 responding.  I'm not interested in debating anything...just wanted to point out a few things that he can try.

You may not last very long here, then, sadly. :( We encourage questioning, debate, discussion, and exploration.

[logman]

I thought the knee was OK. The hands in the iron swing start well forward but if you pause at impact the hands are fine. I like just about everything in this swing.

[Xcho87]

Great feed back. I have been working on the forward hand and set up positions and they seem to be helping me get a more predictable ball flight. The trouble I keep have is keeping my head still and moving my hips forward. I'm trying all kinds of drils to help me out but haven't go it to click yet. I know what I'm suppose to do with my weight but can't seem to do it. 5SK #1 and #2 are a work in progress for me so far. As for the driver I will try to again adjust my setup and I also noticed that the pros have their hands almost touching their right thigh during the downswing while mine is really far away. I guess that's what OTT looks like.

[logman]

What does the driver do that you think needs changing?

[logman]

I forgot to add. IMHO one of the greatest and most under rated aspects of the golf swing is simplicity. It's all very well to Analyze the bejeezus out of yourself, and if you look around at lots of swings and advice on here, you'll see plenty of it. But a simple swing is repeatable and dependable, it lets you concentrate on other parts of the game. Don't be fooled into thinking your swing has to look like this or that. My point is if you can hit the nut down the middle then you can play golf to a very high level.

Your swing looks very simple and straight forward to me. The driver seems to come down the same path as it went up, hands look forward at impact,weight seems stable, power looks good. Go for it!

[iacas]

Originally Posted by logman

My point is if you can hit the nut down the middle then you can play golf to a very high level.

In other words: "If you can play golf to a very high level, you can play golf to a very high level."

[logman]

Originally Posted by iacas

In other words: "If you can play golf to a very high level, you can play golf to a very high level."

Dunno about what you mean there Erik. I'm just trying to say some people have pretty swings and some people don't. Aesthetics doesn't trump effectiveness

[iacas]

Originally Posted by logman

Dunno about what you mean there Erik. I'm just trying to say some people have pretty swings and some people don't. Aesthetics doesn't trump effectiveness

You said "if you can hit the nut down the middle" which is synonymous with "you can play well".

The point of analysis is not to make a swing that looks good, it's to make a swing that performs well. Not one of the 5SK is about esthetics; they're about function.